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Anybody get PJ Library books?
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MiracleMama




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Nov 29 2016, 10:04 am
We signed up years ago and they're still coming. Once in a while we get a decent book. Most are kind of bleh. Some are a bit inappropriate - I seem to remember one where the family did tashlich in their toilet.
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watergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Nov 29 2016, 10:11 am
causemommysaid wrote:
Everything you wrote made me laugh because I have thought all the same things at one point or another.

At the end of the day, we chuck the books we don't like and keep the ones that are cute. Its free. You get what you pay for.

Its free for YOU. Someone is paying for it. You throw away books?? I cant even. Donate them - and get off their list to free up the funds for someone who will benefit from all of the books. You are not their intended audience. As another poster said, she cant even sign up because her area is full. Get off the list and buy your own books. Then you will truly get what you paid for. And yes, I am being snippy. Books are not to be thrown out. Even if they are free.
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amother
Brunette


 

Post Tue, Nov 29 2016, 10:19 am
watergirl wrote:
Its free for YOU. Someone is paying for it. You throw away books?? I cant even. Donate them - and get off their list to free up the funds for someone who will benefit from all of the books. You are not their intended audience. As another poster said, she cant even sign up because her area is full. Get off the list and buy your own books. Then you will truly get what you paid for. And yes, I am being snippy. Books are not to be thrown out. Even if they are free.


I agree. We dislike most of the books but I toss them in the local public library slot. I could never throw out a book, no matter how much I scratch my head and wonder who thought it was worth publishing.
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Tue, Nov 29 2016, 11:32 am
What a great idea to donate to the library! Do you think toys for tots might take it since my library doesn't have a donate slot? Some kid should get use from it and it's brand new!

I keep most books and my kids like them. Just for the one or two that have something really inappropriate like the one with people sleeping together.
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Gerbera




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 01 2016, 10:17 pm
dancingqueen wrote:
Just as you (might) find it disrespectful to have stories about women rabbis or women being called up to the Torah, for most Jews it would be disrespectful to exclude women from these circumstances.

How do you get signed up for these free books?


Www.pjlibrary.org
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Gerbera




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 01 2016, 10:25 pm
chanchy123 wrote:
Interesting. We live in Israel, in Israel many (most? all?) preschools get PJ Library books once a month. My kids have been getting them for several years now. The quality varies, some books are very good, others are meh. It's worth in my opinion for some of thee really excellent books we have gotten throughout the years.

Yesterday DD, who is in second grade walked in with a PJ Library book, saying that now they will also be receiving books. The book seemed very benign to me but I didn't read through it.

I assume we are not getting the same books in Israel and the US. I really cannot remember any objectionable books we have received - some were boring, or just plain pointless - just bad books but nothing that I would object to religiously.

What ages are PJ Library books geared towards in the US? Do you pay for them? Here, we get them through the public schools. Although I have heard of some more chareidi schools that do not distribute them.


The program outside of Israel is not distributing books through schools nor are they the same books that you are receiving.

PJ Library is for kids ages 6 months to 8 years old and PJ Our Way is for kids ages 9-11 years old.

Each community pays for a part of the subscription costs so program details will vary by community. Some give one book per family and some give one book per child.

PJ Our Way allows the kids to choose the book they want each month from a selection of four books.

Noone pays for PJ Library books....they are free. The community that mails them out pays and the Harold Greenspoon Foundation pays the rest.

People who are throwing books out....cancel your subscription. Many communities have wait lists. Allow families that WANT the books to receive them.

As for donating them to a library....in addition to working for PJ Library I am also a librarian in a public library. Most libraries like mine do not make use of any donations. It is not worth the cost involved in processing the books. They are tossed or sometimes added to a book sale.

The surveys we send out have a very high rate of response and the numbers strongly show what an impact these books have on so many families. It is a very important program. Again....cancel your subscriptions if you don't want/like the books. There are plenty of ppl who DO want them.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 01 2016, 11:29 pm
Same way PJ recipients shouldn't throw away books, I think it's insane that your public library does. It's a LIBRARY, if they don't value literacy then who should? I understand if they don't have the capacity to process donations but then let them give them to some charity that does accept things. Or put them on a shelf outside the library for people to take home free. Or something.

I like that the PJ Our Way lets you choose books, why can't the other version do that? Then it would be much more likely that families would get books well suited to them.
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SRB




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 02 2016, 12:00 am
We receive PJ library books. Some I like some, not as much. Yes, the books show some practices that we don't choose - but Jewish people are diverse. If you don't like what you are receiving, it's probably because your family is not the target audience. They are doing outreach to less or unaffiliated Jews. If you don't like it, just cancel your subscription - it's not for you. It's for someone else who chooses something different. I cant believe its that hard to cancel - just look online for the person who you would contact to subscribe. And please don't throw out the books, donate them - someone else may find it appropriate for their family and who knows, it could spark a thoughtful conversation where one was needed.
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amother
Yellow


 

Post Fri, Dec 02 2016, 12:39 am
We love our PJ Library books! There's only been one story where a girl was wearing a kippah at camp on Shabbos. We just kind of skipped that one or 2 pages. Kids didn't even notice. Other than that, we haven't had any issues. (We work in kiruv and have a lot of non-frum relatives, so my kids see a lot, anyway. They know that THEY are frum, and that's what's important.)

Please don't toss your books or use them for art projects! Cancel your subscription. You could also see if a local conservative or reform shul might appreciate a donation. (Don't tell them you feel the books aren't appropriate for your kids, just say you have some extra books, would they like them?)
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 02 2016, 9:46 am
mille wrote:
I feel like we aren't the target audience for PJ Library. I hear a lot of Orthodox Jews complaining about the content - so cancel, let another kid get the books. The target audience IMO seems to be Jewish kids who may not otherwise have a Jewish library (aka secular or non-orthodox Jews). Let's be honest, we are all going to buy Jewish books anyway, we don't need a service to give us books.

Signed, someone who doesn't get to partake in PJ Library because the PJ Library for my county is not accepting sign ups... Perhaps because so many orthodox jews are signing up just to throw the books out. Confused


I think in theory and largely in practice, it sounds positive.
I appreciate how there are kids who will be gratified to find families like theirs, e.g. the Asian and Jewish grandmothers. But how far should this go?
It sounds like maybe some of the frum children's writers/illustrators might want to try to get more inclusive, maybe Jews of color in illustrations? I guess they can go only go so far themselves.
Meanwhile, Gerbera, kol hakavod. It's a noble idea and may you see peiros and may those in the position to make the choices have good material to work with. I am grateful to our local Federation and other organizations that do so much for the community and know that while some of it makes me wince, there is so much incredible good out there.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 02 2016, 9:49 am
Gerbera wrote:


As for donating them to a library....in addition to working for PJ Library I am also a librarian in a public library. Most libraries like mine do not make use of any donations. It is not worth the cost involved in processing the books. They are tossed or sometimes added to a book sale.

.


Are the odds greater that they'll be tossed or added to the book sale? The latter seems like a good option to me.
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Marion




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 04 2016, 10:41 am
seeker wrote:
Same way PJ recipients shouldn't throw away books, I think it's insane that your public library does. It's a LIBRARY, if they don't value literacy then who should? I understand if they don't have the capacity to process donations but then let them give them to some charity that does accept things. Or put them on a shelf outside the library for people to take home free. Or something.


A LOT of libraries and library systems have a very strict donation policy. They simply don't have the manpower to process everything. I worked for a publisher trying to get a book into the public and university libraries; the publisher was giving away this book (someone else was underwriting the cost). It was a 300+ page book on the partisans in Lithuania during WWII. We had 500 copies to give away and could barely find takers for 250! And because we knew about these policies (we explicitly wanted them on the shelves, not as part of book sales) we spent hours upon hours sending e-mails and asking permission to send them. Even the Holocaust museum libraries were not interested.
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Rutabaga




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 10 2016, 9:28 pm
We get PJ Library books and have similar issues to those mentioned above. Some we read over and over again and some quietly disappear.

I just saw this and thought of this thread. Now any of you who are unhappy with the books can try writing one you would be happy to read to your children.

https://pjlibrary.org/Books-an.....Incen
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amother
Brunette


 

Post Sat, Dec 10 2016, 9:57 pm
I am so sad to read public libraries are tossing out books. I have been donating lots of books my kids have outgrown or simply not wanted. So where can I donate old books (mostly kids books) that will make use of them?
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Peanut2




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 10 2016, 11:30 pm
You can donate to a doctor's office or somewhere else that's not a library. Or give to a book sale.
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Peanut2




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 10 2016, 11:39 pm
We get them. There is a big jump from the toddler level, where they are all pretty much okay even if their quality varies, to ages 3/4 and up, where the content starts to be all over the place.

I have no problem with varied practice. I dislike kar ben books with a passion for many reasons, both in terms of quality and how they present Judaism, and PJ library is mostly that. I am pretty liberal religiously and socially, and I work with non-orthodox Jews in a professional capacity (not "Kiruv"). I wish the Jewish content was better in PJ, from a non-orthodox perspective as well. The selections are incredibly repetitive (we have three it could always be worse versions) and many books have no Jewish content at all, really. When they do, I think adding more varied Jewish content and Jewish ideas beyond "we bake challah for Shabbat"x12 books would enrich people's lives a lot more. Just ugh uh ugh. Again - not even talking about this from my perspective as a parent.

As a parent we keep most but I edit what I read often. Now that my oldest is starting to read I need to do a sweep and either donate or edit in the book.

There have been some great choices, some from Hachai and some from various random publishers, mostly toddler stuff, but those Karben ones are just not so good.
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JustAFrumMom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 11 2016, 1:56 am
Good luck on cancelling if you decide to. I've tried. Repeatedly. I know free books are great, but it's wasteful if I can't keep many of them. The younger books were wonderful. Now that my DD is older, she's getting books that are questionable in a lot of ways.
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amother
Brown


 

Post Sun, Dec 11 2016, 2:15 am
I live in Israel and my son who's in a chiloni gan gets the books. My other kids who are in Chareidi ganim do not get them. I've found most of them just okay, nothing spectacular, but I have never seen anything objectionable in any of them. They're all pretty mild.

The most recent one we got was "Ha'achbar v'hatapuch" which teaches about patience. That one was a pretty big hit with my son.
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 13 2016, 10:56 am
Can someone explain to me the "Jewish education" value in a song "pat your pupik, tap your tuchis. sit on the floor"??? That's one of the songs on our new PJ CD we got today...
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bigsis144




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 13 2016, 1:13 pm
tryinghard wrote:
Can someone explain to me the "Jewish education" value in a song "pat your pupik, tap your tuchis. sit on the floor"??? That's one of the songs on our new PJ CD we got today...


It's a link to a secular-Yiddish culture, the type of words you'd learn from a secular-but-culturally-affiliated Bubby cooing over her grandchild. So, mesorah? Dont know

Judaism reduced to "what a shayne punim! eat something, bubbele, there's bagels and lox and some chicken soup for you"
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